


Oracle

by meyari



Series: Hospitality [14]
Category: DCU - Comicverse, Smallville
Genre: Disabled Character, Harems, Multi, Slavery
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-06-08
Updated: 2011-06-08
Packaged: 2017-10-20 06:18:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,132
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/209669
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/meyari/pseuds/meyari
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lord Bruce finally gets the message he's been waiting for and goes to speak to the mysterious Oracle, the keeper of secrets that might give him the edge he needs to overthrow King Lionel Luthor.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oracle

  
Many thanks to ctbn60 for the beautiful banner!

The Cave was dark, as always, but Bruce could feel something there that shouldn't be there. The others had already headed out, including Dick who, to his delight, had been paired up with Roy. From the delighted expressions on both of the boys' faces when they went out together as Nightwing and Red Arrow, their plan might work perfectly though Lionel needed to be dealt with first.

"Hello?" Bruce called into the cool, rustling darkness of the Cave.

A sigh answered him, a rushing of wind and water, a sound-touch-feel that spoke of distant places and high mountains at the same time as it echoed with the darkness of being deep underground. Out of the sighing breeze that shouldn't exist, there was a tinkle of bells and the music of flutes. Bruce shivered, convinced for an instant that he could smell incense along with the faint scent of coffee brewed extra dark only to be tempered with sugar and milk.

"Oracle."

"Bruce…"

Her voice shifted through the Cave like a physical presence. It felt as though he watched a giant carefully run its fingers over the surfaces of the Cave, down the walls and along the floors until those oversized fingers drifted ever so gently over his face. There was the momentary impression of a wry smile and then a place flashed in his mind. For one instant he felt as though he was standing in the pink bedroom upstairs, surrounded by the ruffles and lace. The next instant it was gone along with the sense of someone else being there with him.

Bruce let out the breath that he hadn't consciously held, quite aware that it came out explosively. Rather than putting on his armor, Bruce ran back upstairs, taking the stairs two and three at a time as he hurried to make it to the pink bedroom before the Oracle's gate faded away. Alfred spotted him as he ran up the stairs but a quick gesture was all that was needed in that area. Years of silent communication between them had perfected the art of saying volumes in a single gesture.

When he reached the appropriate room, the pink ruffles and lace decorating most of the surfaces shook as though a storm was blowing through the area and the windows had been left open. The 'window' that allowed the wind to rage stood in the middle of the room. Oracle's gate was a shimmering well of darkness and movement, almost invisible in the night other than the effect it had on its surroundings.

One quick breath and then Bruce strode straight through the gate, ignoring the crackle of magic over his body and the way his hair stood on end.

"Welcome," Oracle said once he was on the other side.

Her voice was wry and warm, though it came from nowhere. The underground vault was easily three blocks square and two stories high, though the darkness around Bruce made it seem much larger. Oracle had courteously arranged for a hovering mage light so that Bruce wasn't in total darkness. It cast a puddle light a sparse yard around Bruce, though the reflections of the light dimly illuminated a bit farther. A forest of pillars supported the weight of the earth over their heads. Bruce looked around to determine which direction he should go in. There was little sign of her location, which wasn't surprising. If Lionel could have captured the Oracle he would have done so in an instant.

"A little help?" Bruce asked.

"Those who seek must find," Oracle said, this time in such a teasing tone that he laughed and shook his head at her. "That's the way of things, Lord Bruce."

"Is it now?" Bruce answered her while sniffing the air for incense and coffee, as well as wetting a finger to test for wind directions.

"Of course," Oracle answered.

She laughed a couple of seconds later when Bruce confidently strode off to his left, following the faint hint of air on his cheeks. It held the tiniest trace of incense on it. As he neared her hidden location, the scent of coffee and sticky buns filled his nose. There was a sound of water, probably coffee, being poured into a mug and the creak of rolling tables slowly drifting across the stone floors as the Oracle's sanctum moved snail-like through the darkness.

Barbara smiled as he walked through the illusions hiding her from view and stepped up onto her 'porch'. Her hair was loose around her shoulders and her glasses sparkled in the light of the many candles illuminating her workplace. She offered him a mug of coffee, hot and black as night. He took it and then bent over to hug her gently. Around them, the dark silk banners that made the walls of her home billowed and shifted in the perpetual night.

"It's been too long," Bruce murmured as he settled into one of the floating chairs that she kept for those who managed to find her.

"Better hiding in the shadows than serving Lionel," Barbara said with a casual shrug. "The sticky buns are quite good. Fresh. A friend brought them in this evening."

"I won't ask who it was," Bruce replied though he shook his head no at the offer.

"Probably best not to," Barbara agreed. Her grin was absolutely wicked before it faded into a serious expression. "You have questions."

"Many."

Barbara nodded and her chair drifted up and away from Bruce, following the silent dictates of her mind. It was the first piece of magic that she'd learned after being paralyzed and still one of her best spells, in Bruce's opinion. Bruce stood and followed her, cradling his cup of coffee in both hands.

She had been the first Batgirl, a strong warrior. Once she lost the usage of her legs, not in battle but in a cowardly attack on her civilian identity, Barbara had studied the magic of Seeing that which was unseen, unknown. There were few oracles who matched her power and intelligence and none were left who were free. Lionel had captured or killed them all since he took the throne.

"I've been studying the question you sent," Barbara said in her Oracle voice. It was deeper and more somber than the way she normally sounded. "It seemed such a simple question: What happened to change Lionel Luthor? It led me far afield from where I expected. Lionel is… not what or who you think he is, Bruce. The danger he represents is beyond calculating if he goes unchecked."

"I won't allow him to continue this way," Bruce promised. His joints ached from the strength of his grip on the coffee mug. "He's a threat to everyone I know and care about."

She only nodded while gesturing apparently idly in the air. The gestures brought of glowing windows filled with images and text. Each window held a secret that no one else could discover. Bruce didn't try to read what was displayed for her. He already knew that Oracle would have scrambled the windows so that no one else could read over her shoulder. She'd done it many times before on much less important questions.

"The actual moment of his change is hidden from me," Barbara admitted, though she wasn't Barbara now. She was Oracle, being of Sight living in darkness but seeing the light all the more clearly for it. "A dark influence overtook Lionel's soul that night, twisting him away from who he used to be and onto a new path that will inevitably lead to the destruction of the entire world."

"Dark influence?" Bruce asked. The coffee tasted like night distilled when he sipped it, full of bitter explosions on his tongue. He'd never tasted coffee like it anywhere else.

"Yes," Oracle sighed. Her windows and chair shifted, moved by the power of her mind, her magic, her restless mood. "I would say that it is a dark God or a demon but… that level of power does not seem to be there. It is, however, growing. Every day since that night of change has added power to the dark influence. In the beginning, I believe that Lionel was still there inside of his body's shell but now, now, I see nothing but the darkness looking out of his eyes. I dare not look too closely or he will find me and consume me."

"Then don't look," Bruce ordered even though he no longer had the right or authority to give her orders. Once she became Oracle she moved beyond his realm of control.

Oracle snorted and smirked over her shoulder at him. "I have not looked directly at him, Bruce. I would not."

The smirk reminded him of the girl who first battled at his side when Dick was young and Robin, of times spent laughing with Clark and Dick over little jokes that they'd all played on Bruce during younger, more innocent times. It also reminded him of the dark times that had happened since then and the losses that had sent Barbara into the shadows for safety's sake.

"I'm not a little girl anymore," Barbara said as she turned back to her windows.

"I know," Bruce admitted as he took another sip of the dark, black coffee. "I worry."

"Yes, you do."

Her voice was accepting of that, though amused by it. As he watched she cast several more spells and called up more information, he wasn't sure on what. Windows flicked into existence for a moment and then out again, cascading information for her to sort through and put into words for Bruce. He knew that it was rare for a visitor to be allowed to watch her work. Oracle, Barbara, was uniquely vulnerable to attack while her mind was occupied with the magic. The trust she displayed made him both proud and sad. It was a pity that she couldn't live a normal life but hopefully soon he would find a way to destroy Lionel and free the entire country from his oppressive rule.

"You need to go home," Oracle said in a rather more distant than normal tone of voice. "The Son of the Sun has found a piece of the puzzle, Dark Knight. I shall send you back to your home."

"And my question?" Bruce asked. A little floating table drifted up to his side so he set the coffee mug on it and let it be taken away.

Oracle turned and stared at him, her eyes strange and distant behind the shimmer of her glasses. They seemed to have windows of information on them, like the windows that surrounded Oracle like a halo. He could feel the power radiating off of them. It felt like wind, like rain, like those giant fingers creeping over the world again.

"The darkness that consumed Lionel Luthor is Doom," Oracle said. "It is the Doom of all that lives, all life, all light, all love. Guard carefully your light, Dark Knight, lest it be taken from you. I shall contact the Houses of Magic. You will need them by the time this comes to an end."

"Thank you," Bruce said as he bowed formally to Oracle. Barbara's smile flirted around her lips but her eyes were still distant, absorbed in the magic that defined her now. "Let me know if you need anything."

"Mm, some of Alfred's scones would be welcome," Barbara said, her true self peeking out from behind the Oracle mask.

The next instant the mask was back or maybe it was Barbara who was the mask. Bruce wasn't sure. He didn't want to think that Oracle was her true self and Barbara was simply a comforting façade that she wore to reassure him but it could easily be true. The magic of Seeing was all-consuming. Everyone knew that.

"I'll see that he makes you some," Bruce promised.

A gate opened behind Bruce, swirling the dark tapestries and banners that were the walls of Barbara's slowly moving home. He looked at it and then nodded to Oracle one last time before stepping through. The magic wind whipped the pink room's frills and then disappeared, leaving Bruce standing in the darkness by himself.

"Thank you, Barbara," Bruce whispered.

He sighed for what she'd lost and what she'd gained and then hurried back down the stairs and through the secret door to the Cave. Time to deal with Lionel's evil and to make sure that Clark was all right. The 'light' in his life was almost certainly Clark, though Bruce fully intended to make sure that Dick was all right too. Both of them radiated light and joy, after all, and the last thing Bruce wanted was to see that light extinguished.


End file.
